*New schedule for this program
Drinks Reception at 6:00pm
Dialogue at 6:30pm
Close at 7:30pm

“Exercise persistently, use sparingly, work diligently” was the motto of Sir Y. K. Pao, who rose from modest origins to become, by the mid-1970s, the world’s largest private shipowner. His Hong Kong-based company World-Wide Shipping diversified into property, hotels, retail, media, telecommunications, airlines and banking — a hugely influential business empire at a time of rapid regional growth. In Y. K. Pao, My Father, Anna Pao Sohmen, the author and eldest daughter of Sir Y. K. Pao, commemorates Sir Y. K. Pao as a father and a family man; as a successful businessman, building up an empire in less than 15 years; as a diplomat shuttling between world leaders in order to advance the interest of Hong Kong and China; and as a politician with a vision. She will also share how Sir Y. K. Pao has influenced the next generations of the family, as well as the nation.

Alongside a successful business career, Professor Anna Pao Sohmen has devoted herself in education and the promotion of culture and the arts. She is Chairman of World Wide Education Group, Founding Governor of the Chinese International School, former Chair of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts; Honorary President of Ningbo University and Advisory Professor of Shanghai Jiaotong University and Tongji University. Professor Sohmen is also passionate about conservation, and helped restore Bethanie House. She is a member of the National Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), standing committee member of Zhejiang CPPCC, as well as formerly a standing committee member of Heilongjiang CPPCC.

Professor Pao Sohmen is a graduate of Purdue University, University of Chicago , McGill University and London University. She also attended courses at University of California, New York University, London School of Economics and Tsinghua University. In 2007, Professor Pao Sohmen and her son Philip Sohmen founded the Y. K. Pao School in Shanghai, consisting of a day school downtown and a boarding school at Songjiang, on the outskirt of Shanghai. It is a Chinese school based on Chinese curriculum, but with an international approach. Anna Pao Sohmen envisions a world-class Chinese school embodying the values of Sir Y. K. Pao.

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